Basis for a solar to Hydrogen Economy

http://www.nmsea.org/Curriculum/7_12/
electrolysis/electrolysis.htm

Please go to above url if interested. They say one picture is worth 1000 words.
In this picture a solar cell takes electricity through wires to a container of water and liberates hydrogen and oxygen to be used as a fuel like gasoline for engines to power vehicles or even larger hydrogen powered electrical generators for AC electricity or even plugin electric vehicles. This makes sense as an economic worldwide basis if one includes wind to electricity to hydrogen as well since wind generates a lot more electricity than solar.

However, if engines were designed to run on hydrogen and oxygen as many in the prototype phase are now, people could generate their own hydrogen from solar or wind power to power their own vehicles. This likely will be necessary within 10 to 40 years. I'm concerned it will be sooner rather than later so let's get ready now!

My wife suggested that I write for you my reaction to this URL page. First of all, I really like the idea of solar to electricity to hydrogen or Wind to electricity to hydrogen because like the article says no pollution takes place in the creation of the hydrogen and oxygen even though most of the hydrogen likely will burn and most won't therefore become water again. So a certain amount of water is lost by burning hydrogen from water even though I think about 1/4 comes out of the tailpipe after burning as water and water vapor. There doesn't appear to be smoke from burning hydrogen in a gaseous form.

I had never heard of the electroplating factor when using metal electrodes during electrolysis creating hydrogen and oxygen. I'm learning a lot here too. I guess what this means is that ANY Electrode will coat with whatever metals are in the water undergoing electrolysis since electrolysis is also a method of electroplating.

Another interesting factor is that adding salt to water will cause more charged ions in the water and increase the flow of electrical current. This could be why when I tried recently to experiment with two leads from a 12 volt battery that there wasn't much action on the two leads like there was about 20 years ago when I tried this on a 1976 Toyota truck. It is possible that since water has different minerals and such in it in different places that each variation in water composition might cause slightly different results when using electrolysis to convert that water into hydrogen and oxygen.

The reason the above url recommends carbon based pencils is that carbon won't coat with any metals that might be present in the water like will happen to metal electrodes. Also, it is important to note that Hydrogen only comes off the negative- electrode which means that oxygen only comes off the positive+ electrode or wire.
Since electrolysis is usually only conducted with direct current(as far as I know as a layman) then one must realize that plugging into a 110 volt AC socket could be very dangerous to both yourself and anyone near as well as your circuitry in your home or shop or garage if you put two plugged in AC wires into any cup, bowl, or container of water.( So please don't experiment with electrolysis with Alternating Current unless you are an electrician or electrical engineer.

note: It is important to choose a container for your experiment that is non-conductive. For example, glass containers or plastic containers like plastic bowls or plastic tupperware or even plastic trash cans.endnote.

I have considered using a battery charger or even a welder if it was only direct current to conduct further experiments to see how hydrogen could be liberated along with Oxygen the most efficiently and in higher volumes. However, my father was an Electrical Contractor and I was trained as an Electrician's helper as a teenager for several summers starting when I was 12. So I have at least 1 or 2 years total experience 5 days a week wiring houses and working with installing all sorts of electrical devices as welll as one more year I worked as an electrician at age 21. I have even built about 5 homes myself. So be very careful if you aren't used to being around electricity in the raw.

Note: I can remember accidentally blowing a public tv station off the air for 20 minutes because I had to work a 440 volt panel hot when I was about 15 in 1963. My screwdriver slipped and I was blind for about 5 minutes with little pieces of melted hot screwdriver embeded in my face. Luckly, it all healed with no scars and after 5 minutes I could see again.endnote.

However, I still believe that unless you are an electrical engineer or a chemical engineer you shouldn't try to store large amounts of hydrogen because we all know what happened to the Hindenburg!

I'm an advocate for running your engine on the hydrogen one generates from water in the moment. In this way everyone is happy and everyone lives! Keep hydrogen safe!